Beta 2 installation fun
I finally got to the point of installing Whidbey beta 2 on my home computer. I was afraid of this in advance as I knew the uninstallation tools for pre-beta CTP releases have traditionally been abysmal. Well, it was easier than I expected… until I got to the point of installing SQL Server 2005 April CTP. Ok, even there everything was a smooth ride until the installation of maintenance tools (Management Studio et al.).
That's where the installer failed. No error message, nothing. The progress indicator was at 100% already, the text was "Updating component registrations". Then boom! The indicator started scrolling backwards and several "rolling back xxx" style texts appeared. The summary log mentioned that we're dealing with error code 2147944003, which wasn't particularly helpful. Luckily (?) the installation did dump a hefty 5.6 megabytes of detailed setup log. After a couple of hours of debugging and testing (hey Microsoft, it would've helped if the error log had contained the error code at some point…), I found out the cause to be this:
DDSet_Status: BeginTransaction()->IHxRegisterSession::CreateTransaction() returned 8004036e
Now why? Well, luckily those method names were the first thing to return some useful Google hits, so things started progressing. Among the results returned was this, which promptly advised me to find a hidden file called Rgstrtn.lck on my C drive and nuke it. Done, and everything works fine. The lock file is apparently used by the HTML help system, and a previously failed installation had locked the help system into a state where no installation with a help component could succeed.
May 5, 2005
В· 
Jouni Heikniemi В· 
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Posted in: .NET